Because of all the dead teams, and the rapid growth, early game is a very bad representation of the game as a whole, and I believe many new players are turned away from CB because early game is so difficult.

It's even difficult for NCBs to get out of the mash of dead characters under 1k score.

"Because of all the dead teams, and the rapid growth, early game is a very bad representation of the game as a whole, and I believe many new players are turned away from CB because early game is so difficult."

if someone who knows what they are doing can get through it so quickly, then is the problem with dead teams as you stated or learning curve of the game?

my point is that the early game is not difficult at all as you stated, however the learning curve may be.

I agree ncb's dominate at the beginning but that is only players who know what they're doing. New players get confused by the huge glut of players under 10k mpr. Once you get out of the low low levels it's not as bad

I don't think the game is difficult for the experienced. But for the new players, they find themselves in a game that is much different and difficult than the game they will be playing if they stick to it for a month or two.

I can give you one input from a referral I made recently. While this game may not be for all, even those initially interested are put back by the crappy interface for non-supporters. So, how about implementing a feature from Wild Guns, which provides a complimentary fortnight's premium membership?

We can provide the fresher NUB with one month's complimentary access to supporter features like the fight-list. This will provide them an easier interface and keep a few of them back. Moreover, those that stay on will be more likely to retain supporter status when that month's premium access comes to an end.

This is true, starting off from 1 MPR to 300-400 k MPR is really a pain, I've started countless NCB and I can tell you that starting from the bottom is really annoying, especially with the weapon/armor allowance, max tattoo limit, and the dead farms, big mpr, low score characters...

I don't understand how some people find it difficult to find farms in 800-900 k mpr range, I get at least double the fight list at that range.

"This game certainly has one of the most difficult learning curves of any I have played."

No offense, but when I started to play CB, I found it refreshingly simple compared to what I was used to from EVE-Online.
I mean, heck, you have a wiki that pretty much feeds you everything you might possibly need, including a bunch of pretty decent strategies (from starter level to "top game" level), so there's really no excuse of "not getting it"... if you either can't understand the wiki or can't be bothered to read it, I don't know what's worse.

You just have to pick some kind of strategy, ANY half-decent strategy will do fine, then comb the appropriate score area for targets (you WILL find some regardless of strategy chosen), and keep fighting for as long and as often as possible.

Results will NOT vary all that much depending on strategy chosen, but they WILL vary quite a lot according to BA burned and NW on gear.

Seriously, how much does ACTUALLY a different strategy yield ? Instead of 100% CB up to ~1 mil MPR, only up to ~800k MPR ? Then top off at ~+10% CB instead of around +30% CB closer to ~2 MPR ? Seriously ? Does that really make a difference ?
It's almost negligible compared to clan membership, and we all know what that means - buring a lot of BA, and not really much more, since the guys with heavy MPR advantage will farm you anyway.

Just look at my current character - it's the epitome of simplicity (as further hinted at by its name), and it still works just fine even in the top tiers (well, I would venture a guess 2.4 mil MPR isn't quite the bottom of the barrel).

So... yeah... sorry if I ended up sounding bitter, but that's how it feels.
And don't get me even started on the NCB vs NUB differences, because I might blow a gasket or something like that.

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